


Horse riding in the Forest of Dean

by Gizmo1234



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:47:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28926033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gizmo1234/pseuds/Gizmo1234
Summary: Set after S3Oksana finds an old photo of Eve on a horse and begs to go horse riding together. Little do the couple realise that while out on their adventure they were followed by assassin/assassins. It turns their quiet horse ride together into a race for survival.
Relationships: Eve Polastri/Villanelle | Oksana Astankova
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love trying to think of things I haven’t seen them do on TV or that I’ve read in fan fictions. So this little story is one of my ideas that cropped up.

As Eve walked towards the small apartment she shared with her girlfriend, thinking over how much her life had changed in the last 5 months since she turned on London bridge and walked towards who she now knows is her soulmate.

The soulmate in question Villanelle or Oksana (somehow the women is both), Eve thinks making her grin. Eve usually calls her Oksana, she decided to ask the ex-assassin after a night of frankly beautiful love making which ended with exploring each other’s bodies.

As she nears the apartment, she thinks of how to tell Oksana the surprise shes been planning. Nearly two weeks ago Oksana, while snooping though Eve’s old photos, had come across a photo of a young Eve on the back of one of her childhood horses.

“Eve this is you isn’t it?” the blonde yells excitedly, pointing at the photo while running toward Eve, skidding to a stop as she neared her. 

“Yep that’s me, used to ride horses when I younger” Eve said “Haven’t ridden one for years though” she added chuckling at the look of awe coming to Oksana’s face.

Oksana’s expression became suddenly serious, then asked Eve with barely contained excitement “Eve could we go horse riding sometime, I’ve always wanted to try it, plus I can’t help but find the idea of you riding a horse incredibly sexy” she concluded while wriggling her eyebrows mischievously at the brunette.

So Eve secretly booked a few hours at a stable just outside of London for them tomorrow, it did mean getting up at the crack of dawn but she was quite excited to teach Oksana something instead of the other way round.

Eve let herself into the apartment, and as soon as she shuts the door she hears that beautiful Russian accent in the direction of the kitchen “Eve I’m cooking something amazing in the kitchen, just in case you want to come kiss me”

She sets her keys down, walks into the kitchen and finds Oksana, wearing a dressing gown dancing to the radio while stirring a pot, Eve laughs and walks over shaking her head. “What are you up to ‘Sana?” “ I wanted to cook you something special Eve” she explained with a small smile, that same smile that Eve had seen that night on the bridge, the smile that was one of the many reasons Eve started calling her Oksana.

“So what’s for tea?” Eve asked kissing the top of the blondes head as she stirred, “Beef stew in red wine sauce” Oksana replied, looking proudly in the pot. After they ate (the blonde having two helpings of course) Eve decided to reveal her surprise, rather than tell her, she handed her phone with their booking open for her to read, with a confused expression Oksana took the phone and looked at the screen. Eve watched her face change from confusion to elation. She suddenly jumped out of her seat and started jumping around the apartment.

The next morning, the two women drove in the early morning light out to the stable on the outskirts of London, Oksana had convinced Eve to let her drive while Eve navigated, saying that they would get there faster while Eve had halfheartedly counted with “at least we’ll get there in one piece baby driver”, letting her drive anyway, she would only end up squirming with excitement the whole way there, Eve thought smiling.

They pulled up at the stable and jumped out of the car, the stable itself was nestled on the edge of the Forest of Dean, both women remembering the last time they were here as they looked around at the scenery. Eve led the way to the office and organised with the man at the desk the horses that they would take out for the day, Eve getting a spirited but well behaved mare called ‘Athena’ and Oksana, being a novice, getting a quiet gelding called ‘Croissant’. They walked out of the office toward the main stable, and met a stable hand who saddle their horses for them, ‘Athena’ had a lovely dark grey coat while ‘Croissant’ was a buckskin, his coat was a golden tan colour while his mane and tail were midnight black. Eve and Oksana walked up to their horses, Eve giving ‘Athena’ a rub on the neck and looked over at Oksana, who was now giving ‘Croissant’ a bear hug, her face smooshed into his neck.  
Eve chuckled at her over excited girlfriend and laughed aloud when the ex-assassin announced that she had to go have an ‘excitement pee’, while Eve stood holding both horses, she gave ‘Croissant’ a stroke on nose and whispered to him “Look after that nutty woman-child for me, she thinks she a natural at everything but underneath that I can tell she’s nervous” 

When Oksana returned, she quickly walked up to Eve and whispered “Eve some guy was watching me, he gave me the creepies, you don’t think he could be from the Twelve”  
“It’s ’creeps’ love and Caroline has been monitoring all her contacts obsessively, if they were moving on us she’d know”, taking her chin in her hand and giving her a quick kiss.

Eve showed her how to mount her horse and once they were both astride their horses they slowly walked towards the gate, heading to a forest path that the man in the office had pointed out, saying that it was a pleasant and winding beginner trail that went out into the forest before looping around back to the stable, that would take them an hour.

“How are you going back there?” Eve yelled back to Oksana and was surprised when she appeared suddenly next her at a jog, bouncing slightly while giggling with each bounce. 

“Thank you so much Eve, I’m already loving it”, putting on a serious face she looked up at Eve and declared with a smirk “But really Eve I should be the one riding the female, me being the one with more experience and all”, winking seductively at Eve.

Eve laughing said “oh ha ha, i think you riding around on a horse named after food is much more appropriate” laughing again when Oksana looked at her with a shocked expression then arranged her face into her best pout, Eve though could see the smile fighting to get through though.

They rode for a few minutes in silence, both women enjoying the tranquillity and just plain being together. “When did you start horse riding?”, the blonde asked.  
“When I was younger maybe 10, I saw some girls riding in a field on a school excursion and bugged my parents till they decided to take me for lessons at a nearby horse riding school, I think they agreed in the end cause it would be something else to stop me rebelling against them later” she answered thinking back on her life then.

“I wonder what they would think of me” Oksana sighed, sounding grim, Eve looked quickly across at her and said reassuringly “I think they would of at first be shocked your a woman but you, your personality and how you are around me, they would love, just like me”, Oksana smiled sheepishly at her, “My dad would’ve thought your hilarious, he was drawn to funny people, kind of always made me wonder why he married my mum” she recalled looking back to the days when he dad was around.

“So you’ve never been on a horse at all?”, Eve enquired, Oksana looked over sadly, her eyes looking like they were seeing something that’s not there.  
“Nope” she slowly threw her head back, looking straight up as she said it, “Dad probably would have let me but mum was firmly against anything that I might enjoy, as you know I’ve come to realise she was a shit” she recalled, she looked back down again and her face was lost once again to horrible memories, her eyes looking glassy. 

Eve thinking ‘shit’ was no where near a strong enough word for that truly evil woman for what she did to her children, “For what its worth, if I could of killed her for you I would” Eve consoled, reaching across and giving her a squeeze around the middle as they rode.

They had been riding for maybe half an hour, when Oksana suddenly sat up stock still, looking like prey that had scented danger, “What is it?”, Eve hissed, feeling fear creep into her.  
“We’re being followed” she insisted, then looking over as Eve went to turn around in her saddle, gasped in one long word “Don’tturnround”, looking straight ahead she continued slowly “Just keep walking, I’m pretty sure its that same guy from the stable, I saw him though the trees, acting like he didn’t want to be seen”  
“What are we gunna do?” Eve whispered fearfully, believing the ex-assassin, knowing even though she can’t kill in cold blood anymore, she still has razor sharp instincts.  
“When I say, we go full speed, straight ahead though the trees, hopefully we can lose him”  
“But Oksana do you even know how to ride a horse at a full gallop?” Eve urged, worrying if the blonde would be able to escape with her.  
“Well I’m about to learn huh”, raising her eyebrows at the brunette, trying to make light of their worrying situation but Eve could see the fear under her expression.  
“Just give him a squeeze with your legs and learn forward on his neck like your riding a motorbike, get low” Eve said trying to give her a quick lesson and hoping with everything in her that it would be enough to keep the little idiot safe.

“Ready Eve?”  
“Ready.......Set.........GO”  
And they set off at a full gallop, their horses extending out straight into the thick trees, both listening for the tell tale sound of another horse racing after them. 

They have been hell bent racing though the trees, for what feels like forever when they both hear pounding of hooves behind them, the assassin is catching up on them, Eve looks across at Oksana and sees a look of terror on her face, then it morphs into determination as she starts to pull back on “Croissant”, slowing him slightly, and Eve can see now Oksana pulling back figuratively also and letting her features become what Eve has come to know as ‘Villanelle’, Eve feels fear for her soulmate but also excitement at seeing ‘Villanelle’ in her girls every feature and movement, the feeling is short lived when the assassin behind them shoots at Villanelle, spooking ‘Croissant’, who shies towards ‘Athena’, leaving Villanelle no where to go but down, landing heavily on her legs, and laying on the forest floor, unmoving.

Eve seeing this, gets the biggest jolt of pure adrenaline shes ever felt, only akin to when she buried a axe in Raymond’s shoulder, wheels her horse around and races with reckless abandon straight at the assassin. The assassin is momentarily surprised and it works to Eve’s advantage, as she nears him she launches onto him, landing on him and knocking him from the saddle. They land on the hard ground, Eve, her fall broken slightly by the assassins body, shakes herself, knowing she’ll pay later for that hard landing, but swimming in too much adrenaline to feel it, gets up, runs to a nearby rock and picking it up, runs back and brings it down on the assassins head with all the strength in her, using the fury at seeing Villanelle fall to power her strikes. She loses track of how many times she hits him, she loses herself in it, feeling only anger and a need to protect. 

Knowing his definitely dead, she stops and takes several deep breaths, feeling herself start to shake, now that the adrenaline is wearing off. Standing up, she turns and looks back where she knows ‘V’ landed, hoping to see her walking back toward her, but all she sees is a dark shape laying on the ground. Eve, her aching body now feeling like she was hit by a train, runs towards Villanelle’s unmoving body with so much dread in her heart that breathing feels like the hardest thing


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eve takes stock of all that happened with the horse riding assassin and tries to take care of her girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to turn this into 3 chapters instead of two, I’m wanting to make it a bit longer, bit more of an adventure me thinks :)

Throwing off her helmet, Eve kneels down beside Oksana and tries to remember the first aid training she did for MI5 years ago. Since she had already taken care of the danger, glancing over at the dead body of the man that tried to kill Oksana today, she moved on to getting a response.  
“Oksana wake up”, Eve gently shook her, hoping that it might get a reaction from her, then added “Please” she added sadly, knowing that the retired assassin was a stickler for good manners.  
Ok Eve no response, now what. Ok check if shes breathing, shaking slightly, Eve leant over the unconscious blonde and put her ear near her mouth. Not breathing herself, Eve heard gentle breaths in her ear and sighed in relief. 

Eve sat back, looked back up at Oksana’s face again, hoping to see her wake up, but the usually animated, beautiful face was slack and calm like she was sleeping. Eve removes her own jacket and roles it into a pillow, gently lifts Oksana’s head and places it under, before lying Oksana back down on it. 

Feeling helpless, she sits down next to the blondes head and tries to think of a plan. ‘Ok’ she considers, ‘we were pretty far off the path when the assassin caught up to us but i think the way back is behind us, the horses have all ran off (bloody cowards), my phones completely stuffed’ as she pulls the smashed smart phone from her pocket, throwing it on the ground in front of her ‘I wonder if Oksana’s got her phone on her’ and she shuffles down to Oksana’s pocket and finds her phone in one pocket (trashed as well), lip balm and a small switchblade. Eve dumps all their stuff in a pile and after checking Oksana’s face again, she walks over to the dead assassin to check him for a phone and supplies. 

As she nears him, she feels fury awakening in her again and gives him a kick as she bends over to check his pockets, she finds a phone that’s password locked and next to him, his gun which she also grabs along with the seemingly useless phone and walks back over to Oksana.

When she reaches her she’s relived to see that shes starting to stir, Eve kneels down beside her and watches as those hazel eyes she knows so well, look around dazedly and then lock on her with a look of confusion that slowly changes to fear then confusion again as she looks around her “Eve, where’d the madman on the horse go? There’s was a madman on a horse or did I dream that?” She looks at Eve with her head on an angle, reminding Eve of a confused puppy and it makes her laugh, a laugh that’s draining her of all the pent up worry over her girl, her laugh then turns into a slight sob “Eve, what’s wrong?” Oksana asks instantly worried and she goes to push herself up and her face is suddenly distorted in pain.

“Dammit” she cries out and falls down on her back again.   
“What is it?” Eve asks worry etched on her face now.  
“Im good” Oksana says looking now like shes holding her breath, “why were you crying just now, and was there a madman?” She huffs out in one breath, face straining to look normal, but failing, it would make Eve laugh if she wasn’t so worried.  
“Ok I was slightly teary eyed cause I was extremely worried about you, then when you woke up I was incredibly relieved” Eve replied, “And the ‘mad man’, yes there was one and I bashed his head in with a rock” Eve says quickly like it was a everyday occurrence, “Now why did you cry out just then?, and don’t pretend that you didn’t.”

Oksana sits up with her weight behind her on her elbows and looks at Eve for so long its like she been turned into a living statue, it looks like she having an internal battle and Eve is desperate to know what she’s thinking. “Wow Eve that’s.....um.....I’m sorry I should have protected you, I should have killed him, I didn’t want you to have to do that again” Oksana looks down then, trying to hide the tears that spring to her eyes but don’t fall.

Eve reaches out, cupping her chin and bringing her head up so she can look into her shining eyes” ‘Sana we are in this together, we protect each other ok and just to clarify the past, if I had to kill Raymond again, I would slam that axe into his back over and over again if it meant saving you, you beautiful idiot” she says with a grin, giving the ex-assassin a kiss.

“Eve you should never tell a idiot their an idiot, it upsets them” Oksana teased with a wink, “Well Eve now I know we’re safe, i think my ankle may be broken.” She adds with a shrug.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls try to get back to the stables but nothing is ever easy. Then they have a bit of luck.

“What, are you sure?”, Eve asks, crawling over to Oksana, to kneel over her, in that moment feeling instantly protective of her. “Are you hurt anywhere else? Tell me the truth”.  
Oksana looks at the dominant but protective expression on Eve’s face and is hit with a thirst for her that is so strong it pushes past the throbbing in her ankle.

“Eve your dominance is turning me on, more than the usual amount that I’m turned on just by looking at you” grinning at Eve, she adds “Help me sit up”, holding her arms out for Eve to grab, she huffs under her breath “Think I might have a broken rib”

Straightening herself on her knees, Eve goes to grab Oksana’s arms and has her sitting with her back on a tree when she suddenly gasped “You’ve got a broken rib?”.

“It’s ok Eve, had plenty of broken ribs, this is only one, it’ll be fine” the ex-assassin says simply, shrugging her injury off, “Are you ok Eve?”, she unclips her helmet and lays it beside her then turns her head toward Eve, looking up at her though her lashes.

Eve stares at the blonde, always amazed at the change in her, at the genuine look of concern on her face and it worries her that she knows Oksana would gladly step in front of any bullet that would dare go near her beautiful Eve, “I’m fine, got a very sore shoulder and hip from jumping on the assassin and probably going to have some pretty awesome bruises but I’m good”

“Jumped on the assassin? What did you do Eve?” Oksana wondered, one eyebrow cocked.  
“When I saw you fall” Eve explained “I think my monster got a little angry and I kind of raced toward him and jumped from my horse onto him, he fell off with me on top, then I beat him with the rock i told you about” trying to make it seem easy and not incredibly badass. 

“Wow Eve that’s amazing, I’m sorry you had to kill him, really, but that is very cool. No one has ever charged toward a horse riding assassin for me before” Oksana admitted, impressed by Eve’s amazing stunt that saved both their arses.

Both women sat against the tree, side by side for a few minutes until the blonde broke the silence “Well while I do love sitting here with you, we should really get moving, we can’t be sure that the ‘dick’ on the horse didn’t have friends, and at the moment I’m not going to be able to protect you as well as I want to”, Oksana teased but Eve could see in the way her smile didn’t reach her eyes that she was uncomfortable about being nearly helpless.

Eve pulls the gun she found earlier and holds it out to Oksana “This might help with that, I found it near him, you might as well have it, your the better shot”, Oksana looks like she wants to argue, not wanting to leave Eve without a weapon but her logic about their shooting prowess stops her, Oksana takes it and lays it in front of her then looks around them “I need a branch, to use as a crutch”  
“Do you want me to try and bandage it with something?” Eve asks not feeling confident about having anything they can actually use as a bandage.  
“Nope, probably better if we just leave the shoe on too” Oksana figured examining her ankle “It doesn’t look too bad, probably a bad sprain or fracture really” she hoped while watching Eve find her the perfect crutch by picking up likely branches, testing them and hurling the bad ones away.

Eve settled on one that was reasonably heavier but had another branch growing out of it that Oksana could grip her hand on top of easily, “There we are, one invalid crutch, made by nature”, Eve laughed, glancing down at the horrified expression on Oksana’s face.  
“How rude Eve, I am not an invalid, I am a terrifying bringer of death” Oksana proclaimed, a wolfish grin taking over her features “Now help me up Eve I am stuck”, her grin turning into a pout.

Eve stared at Oksana unblinking then exploded into laughter, trying to control herself as she pulled Oksana to her feet and handed her the crutch, Oksana gazed at Eve then unable and frankly unwilling to stop herself she too started laughing as she leaned over her new crutch.

Once they had gathered themselves, Eve pointed back the way she thinks they came “If we walk this way we should make it back to the path then we just follow it back, do you think you can make it that far on your ankle?” Eve said worry creeping back into her voice.

Oksana glances in the direction Eve points and with a determined expression, sets off, as well as she can, “Of course I can, I’m amazing”  
Eve watches her limp off, shaking her head in amusement but slightly worried that by the looks of her hobbling movement, shes hardly putting any weight at all on her bad ankle and with all she knows about Villanelle/Oksana shes fairly certain that the ex-assassin has a high pain tolerance.

As they near the assassin, Oksana stoops down over him, looking at the face hidden under all blood and suddenly shoots back up, wide eyed, nearly unbalancing herself, “Eve that’s not the guy I saw at the stable” Oksana spluttered, bringing the gun out of her pocket and holding it in front of her face. 

“Are we sure that guy was a bad guy, maybe he was just ogling you” Eve chuckled nervously.  
“As much as I’m very ‘oglelable’ Eve” the blonde joked sounding like she nearly put a knot in her tongue “I’m sure he was up to something, my spidey sense tingled” Oksana glared now in the direction they hoped the stable was.

“What do you think we should do then” Eve implored, looking around them, wondering if another damn assassin was about to jump out and try to murder them.

Oksana with the gun in one hand and crutch in the other, straightened up and hobbled off again “We try and get back to the stable, but I’m in front even if I’m as fast as a herd of snails travelling through peanut butter” glancing back at Eve with a smirk. “Stay as close as possible to me Eve”.

They had been travelling in silence for some time, with only the occasional groan from Oksana when Eve suddenly asked coming up beside Oksana, “How many languages do you actually know ‘Sana?”  
Oksana, eyes narrowed as she non-verbally asks Eve to get back behind her (while Eve rolls hers at the blonde) thinks for a few seconds and answers back to her “Ummm english, russian, french, spanish, german, italian, and I was learning mandarin but started learning Korean instead”.

“Why did you do that then” Eve inquires, knowing the answer.  
“Because this incredibly beautiful and smart Korean American women with amazing hair crossed my path and I decided it would be romantic to speak to her in it” she replied, glancing around quickly at Eve to give her a flirty smile then quickly turning back around to continue limping forward.

Eve noticed then that even though they were going incredibly slowly, Oksana had sweat sticking to the little baby hairs on the back of her neck and increased her pace to come up beside her, looking sideways at her face she saw now that Oksana was paler then Eve was used to seeing her and decided to stop her for a rest before she dropped. “Hey Honey, you need to stop for a rest or your going to hurt yourself even worse or pass out” Eve worried.  
“I’m strong Eve don’t worry, we need to get back to safety” Oksana reassured trying to put bravado in her face but her pained, wan face was betraying her. For her part, Oksana felt every step was torture, each time her ankle touched the ground, pain flared from her ankle up her leg and she wasn’t even putting all her weight on it but the thought of someone hurting Eve gave her a pain that was somehow even worse, she had to get her out if it was the last thing she did.

Oksana felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her, then Eve standing defiantly in front of her, even through Oksana’s haze of pain the commanding look Eve was giving her was still able to excite her.  
“Baby, I’m not letting you past me, your face is covered in sweat and getting paler by the minute, lets just have a rest for half an hour, then we’ll get started again” Eve pleaded, standing her ground.  
Oksana sagged and Eve knew then she had won, she wound her arm around the blonde’s lithe frame, being careful not to touch her lower ribs where her suspected fracture was and helped her  
limp over to a nearby stump. Reaching the stump, with Eve’s help, Oksana lowered herself to the ground, whimpering under her breath when she straightened her injured leg to the ground.

They sat for a few silent minutes, Oksana breathing hard, trying to control the pain. Eventually, when her breathing slowed back to normal, she looked over at the brunette, “Eve, I miss Croissant, the horse, and the food too if I’m honest” admitted with a long sigh.  
Eve chuckled lightly, shaking her head at the once terrifying assassin that was now pouting exaggeratedly at her with her eyes closed.   
“You know, you do that a lot, masking pain and fear with jokes and smart arse comments” Eve suggested, she looked up and was met with Oksana’s slack-jawed expression and looking like she was getting ready to deny it and Eve’s ability to see through it. Eve spoke first before she could start.  
“I just want you to know, your allowed to show pain around me, i know you’ve been conditioned to hide weakness but not with me, I love you and I will never ever use it to hurt you” Eve rose quickly and planted a long kiss on Oksana that if they had been anywhere else would have transformed into more.  
Oksana took a few seconds to clear her throat because she seems to have acquired a ‘Emotional Lump’ as she’s come to call them and she murmured “Eve thank you for showing me what love is”. They sat then side by side, hand in hand till Oksana declared that they better get a wriggle on cause there are murdery varmints in these parts (with a overdone Wild West accent) and with Eve laughing while pulling Oksana to her feet they prepared to set off again.  
Just when Eve is straightening up she spots what looks like a old building off in the distance through the trees and grabs Oksana’s shoulder and points excitedly “‘Sana look theres a building over there”  
Oksana squints through the trees and seeing a old abandoned looking building, Eve continues hardly without pause “Ill just run over there, it’ll only take 5 minutes and have a look, if its something that can help us then ill come help you over there”.  
Oksana doesn’t like the idea of Eve by herself for even a minute but she can follow slowly anyway “Ok Eve but don’t go in, I want to be able to see you the whole time, i mean it Eve, if you disappear from my sight, ill never let you out of my sight again, like a crazed stalker or the ‘bad smell’ expression” Oksana warned, face serious.  
So thinking that its probably a overgrown ruin, knowing their luck, sets off at a fast pace, as fast as the dull pain in her hip will allow.  
Oksana watches her go and sets off herself thinking to follow along slowly, she has no choice anyway as the invisible thread that binds them together brings with it an ache when it gets taut, she knows keeping a distance between them is no longer an option.  
As Oksana struggles along she notices movement in her peripheral and sees a man walking carefully through the undergrowth, with a gun in hand, sneaking up on her Eve, adrenaline immediately floods her system, almost making her feel sick and she screams out “EVE GET DOWN”.

Oksana not stopping to see if Eve did get down immediately does the only thing she can think of doing, she runs, a loping, uncoordinated run of someone desperate to move, even with the massive amount of adrenaline coursing through her body, her ankle still sends so much pain to her head that she could throw up, the man turns to her then, bringing the gun around to aim at her instead, but before he can get a shot at her, she deems herself close enough for a clear shot and raises the gun, stops and shoots. 

As soon as she hears the gun shot, Eve starts running toward where Oksana is, only noticing offhand, the man fall dead, shot between the eyes. She only has eyes for Oksana, as she finally reaches her, the blonde falls, collapsing on her hands and knees now that the danger has gone and tries to control her body’s urge to throw up from fear, pain and the adrenaline that’s now left her.

Eve sits beside her, rubbing her back and when she has control over herself again she pulls her into her chest, letting the ex-assassin cry into her shoulder, while Eve gently strokes her head, running her hands through her gold blonde strands, willing her to calm. Eve hears Oksana hiccuping and asks then “Is your ankle going to make it over to that building if you lean on me?”  
“Yes” Oksana answers because she’s never letting Eve go anywhere by herself after that.  
Walking over slowing, Eve noticing worryingly that Oksana seems to be limping even worse now after her impromptu running session. As they approach the old building, they both stop, hearing a noise on the other side, something moving through the grass, Oksana pulls the gun and tries again to pull ahead of Eve, desperate to keep protecting her, but as they reach the far side of the structure, instead of another assassin or other unknown dangers, they instead see Croissant, lazily picking at the long grass. The old horse sensing them approaching, raises his head and watches Eve walk up beside him, as Eve reaches out a nervous hand, willing the gold coloured horse to not run for the hills again.

Eve closes her hand around the reins that have thankfully stayed over his head and gratefully gives him a rub on the nose “Thanks boy I had no real idea how I was going to get my girl home” she whispers to him as she walks towards Oksana, who is leaning on an old post with her leg now completely off the ground. 

Eve leads Croissant up along side Oksana then looks expectantly at the ex-assassin to take her arm.  
“Ok love, if I give you a leg up can you climb up on his back, its the fastest and least painful way for me to get you back to the stable”  
Oksana peers up at the gelding and gives him a childish frown “Ok ‘Pastry’ horse, ill get on you, but if you throw me on the ground again I’ll....I’ll do something violent that I can’t think of just now, but it’ll be terrible” she threatens, knowing in her heart that its an empty threat but giving him her best scowling expression in any case.

“Yep ‘Sana he’s very put in his place now” Eve laughs “Now give me your good leg as you use your arms to climb up the saddle and ill hoist you up, but don’t use your bad leg”  
“Don’t worry Eve, I couldn’t use it even if I wanted to” Oksana admits, gritting her teeth against the pain in her ankle that’s only got worse after trying to run down the threat to Eve, she realises through that she would run through any and all pain if it meant keeping Eve safe.

Oksana grabs the top of the saddle as Eve pushes her leg up, and slowly Oksana is able to scramble messily into the seat, both women breathing hard when shes upright in the saddle. Once she looks ready, Eve takes the reins and starts leading Croissant in the direction they were originally going when suddenly Oksana pulls Croissant up and looks down at Eve walking beside her on the ground. “Eve, why don’t you get up here as well, he’s a big horse, we’re both slim and your looking pretty pooped, come take a ride with me, pretty lady” she teased, patting the saddle in front of her and wriggle her eyebrows suggestively.  
“Really Oksana, you likely have a broken ankle, how are you still flirting with me?” Eve remarked slightly amazed.  
“Eve I don’t think you completely appreciate just how much power you have over me, you are like pain relief to me” Oksana confided lovingly.  
Eve slightly taken aback by that, reached up and touched the blondes cheek and sighed “Damn I love you” then put her foot in the stirrup and pulled herself up in front of Oksana.  
Thankfully Croissant didn’t seem to mind them both aboard so Eve gave him a small squeeze and they set off toward the stable.

Eve felt then long arms snaking around her middle and Oksana’s chin resting on her shoulder, nuzzling into her hair, breathing in her scent. “We should have rode like this from the beginning Eve” Oksana exclaimed give Eve a bear hug from behind.  
“Maybe next time ‘Sana, hows your ankle feeling?” Eve inquired, hoping the blonde hadn’t done herself any permanent damage after running on it.  
Oksana glanced down at the offending ankle and grimaced “Not gunna lie Eve, I’m really good at ignoring most pain but this is really really hard to ignore”.  
Eve, able to hear the pain seeping through Oksana’s words replied “Don’t worry we’ll get back to the stable, I’ll call Caroline to pick up all the dead assassin’s out here and I’ll drive you to an MI6 doctor”  
“Eve, promise me if I get a cast, you’ll write on it” Oksana whined with a mischievous poke at Eve ribs.  
“Yes I promise you idiot” Eve vowed, laughing.

They finally made it back at sun down, both women feeling like they had been out in the woods for days, as they approached, a stable hand came running over.  
“Thank heavens, when Athena came back without you we started gearing up to come search for you guys, what happened?” He asked breathlessly.  
“My girlfriend here got thrown off her horse, Athena ran for it but we found Croissant here to ride back on” Eve lied, thinking technically she wasn’t lying.  
Eve walked Croissant over to their car and slid off, unlocked and opened the car door then turned around ready to catch Oksana, who at Eve’s coaching slid unceremoniously off Croissant’s back and put her arm around Eve’s shoulder, and turned to say goodbye to Croissant.  
“Well thanks I guess for not abandoning me completely” she said giving him a uncoordinated hug around his neck “Welp smell ya later ‘Pastry Horse’” and with Eve’s help fell into the car.

Before Eve started the engine, she remember to call Caroline, exclaiming “shit” as she jumped out of the car and ran over to a stable hand to borrow his phone to call Caroline, told her quickly about the dead assassins in the woods and their rough locations (“You two are a full time job”) and then started the car, driving straight to the MI6 hospital.

Driving into the parking lot, Eve rushed around to the passenger side before the injured blonde could start getting out, opened the car door and took Oksana’s arm, guided her to cling to her shoulder while Eve locked the car. They made their way at the speed of a glacier across the parking lot, Eve sneaking looks out the corner of her eye at the frowny look of concentration and pain on Oksana’s face. As they got to the door of the hospital, Eve breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted a wheelchair sitting unattended, she grabbed it quickly and patted the seat, indicating for Oksana to take a seat. It was a sign of just how much pain she was in, when she sat down without comment, falling into the chair with a huff, absolutely spent.

Eve pushed the wheelchair to the front desk, gave Oksana’s fake name, a quick run down of her suspected injury also mentioning her ribs.  
An X-ray specialist came out to take Oksana, Oksana grabbed Eve’s arm as she went past, while being pushed by the attendant, “Sorry my girlfriend has to come with me, she attracts danger” she explained with her best pout. 

After the X-ray, Oksana was given some pain meds, then laid back on a hospital bed while Eve sat on a chair beside her, waiting for the X-ray to be examined. Eve dozed off while Oksana watched her, remembering the feeling of pure terror when she thought the assassin was about to shoot Eve. Remembering the fear she had felt when the assassin on horseback had been chasing them and she had realised that they wouldn’t escape, she had then decided that it would either be him dead or Oksana but couldn’t be her beautiful Eve, and had felt herself calling on ‘Villanelle’, so that she could bring death to him, as swiftly and uncaring as possible. Even so she thought of herself as both Oksana and Villanelle, as she could never be completely Oksana because of everything she had endured and experienced, but she could also never be all Villanelle anymore because of Eve, because she ‘feels things’ when shes with her.

Eve woke and noticed Oksana staring at her with the expression of someone very deep in thought, “What’s going on in your head?” Eve asked with a bemused look.   
“Just about how your going to have to look after me” Oksana joked, grinning roguishly.  
Eve was just about to throw a pillow at her when a doctor arrived to give the verdict on Oksana’s injuries. Looking down at the chart she explained “Well you have a fracture in your ankle, it’ll need plaster and you’ll be on crutches for at least 6 weeks, one of your lower ribs has a small fracture, you’ll just need to go easy for a few weeks”. Looking up, the doctor was confused by the amused look on Eve’s face but moved on “Someone will be in shortly to plaster you up, give you some pain meds to take home with you and you guys can be on your way”.

As the doctor left, Eve turned to Oksana, laughing she asked “How are you going to take it easy for 6 weeks, you can barely keep still for 6 minutes”.  
“Rude Eve” Oksana huffed out, her face going suddenly deadpan, “Ok fine Eve, I have the attention span of a goldfish, you’ll have to help me” she exclaimed, worriedly.

Later that night, after getting home and Eve had cleaned up the things Oksana had knocked down while getting used to her crutches, Oksana beckoned Eve over to the couch with a black pen in hand, “Eve, here draw something on my cast” her expression ecstatic and young.  
Eve took the pen and realised, her face taking on a wide grin, there was really only one thing she could write.

When Eve finished, Oksana looked down excited and read ‘Sorry Baby’ and underneath that ‘Love you’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and comments. I find myself google the strangest things doing this, like first aid and pain meds for fractures.

**Author's Note:**

> I love dark/protective Eve, that look on Sandra’s face when Eve stepped on Dasha😳


End file.
